JOPLIN, Mo. — Seniors and juniors are taking classes in a converted big-box store. Freshmen and sophomores are in a building across town. The new middle school is in an industrial park.

Throughout Joplin, the schools are still a jumble, with books, computer monitors and unassembled furniture littering unfamiliar hallways. But as classes resumed Wednesday, students and teachers welcomed the start of another year as a return to something normal — or what passes for normal in a city crippled last spring by the nation’s deadliest tornado in six decades.

“You can’t pretend like nothing happened,” said high school English teacher Brenda White. “But everything is so new here. Every single thing that is this school is new and different.”

The twister killed 160 people, injured hundreds more and destroyed thousands of buildings, including Joplin’s only public high school. Now, after months of cleaning up debris, attending funerals and trying to rebuild shattered lives, it was time to get back to pop quizzes and homework assignments.

“It’s going to take a while to build everything back, but books are a good start,” White said while stocking her classrooms with copies of “The Great Gatsby,” “The Kite Runner” and other literary standards.

The school system was hit especially hard by the May 22 tornado. Seven students and one employee were among the victims, including a senior sucked from his car by winds on his way home from the Joplin High School graduation ceremony. Six school buildings were destroyed, including the high school. Seven other buildings were badly damaged.

District leaders quickly realized that they would play a huge role in Joplin’s recovery, for reasons symbolic as much as practical. They expanded the hours and locations of summer school in an effort to give children a reassuring routine — and their parents the time to deal with insurance agents, contractors and social-service agencies.

Officials cobbled together a hodgepodge of temporary locations for fall classes, from the old Shopko store at Northpark Mall to a former Missouri Department of Transportation office where the superintendent and other administrators now work. Rival elementary schools combined, and a middle school found space in an industrial park.

Even in a corner of the country where hard work is cherished, the swiftness of the transformation was striking, White said.

“I’ve always known people are strong here. But this has really brought it home,” she said. “People are so strong. They just get up, dust off and go to work.”

Students arrived at the “mall school” Wednesday morning to a bevy of well-wishers holding Joplin High signs and lining the entrance road. Some teens gathered in modular classrooms, right next to a row of concrete-lined storm shelters. Others lingered in hallways.

The start of classes also offered students a chance to reunite with classmates who had endured the same ordeal.

“Everyone is closer, more friendly to each other,” said senior Yainer Oviedo, whose mother and six siblings lost their home to the storm.

At East Middle School, which was relocated to a converted warehouse, students agreed that some things were unchanged: Cafeteria food still tasted terrible, kids got lost on their way to class, and the odor of pet food from the factory across the street was gross.

School officials brought in additional counselors and trauma workers to help students and families who may still be struggling.

“We can build buildings, but the emotional damage that this storm has caused is of a very significant concern and something we’re going to be watching closely for months, if not years,” Superintendent C.J. Huff said.

More in News

A wedding and special events’ planning business has agreed to pay a $200,000 settlement to five employees living in the country illegally after allegedly failing to pay them minimum wages and overtime and discriminating against them because of their race.

The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter.